Former Scientologist warns Katie Holmes of dangers of attacking church after Tom Cruise split

A Dublin conference on Scientology has warned actress Katie Holmes not to speak out after her marriage split from Hollywood legend Tom Cruise.

A former Church of Scientology member told the Dublin Offlines conference what Holmes can expect if she attacks the religious cult after her separation.

The Irish Times reports that former member Samantha Domingo told the Dublin conference, organised by ex-Scientologists, that Holmes can expect to provoke a strong reaction from the cult.

The former wife of famous tenor and Scientologist Placido Domingo Jnr, Domingo spent 20 years in the organisation before the breakdown of her marriage.

After her 2009 split, Domingo spoke publicly of her experiences before the Church pressurised her ex-husband to disconnect from her.

They also ordered her husband only communicate with their three daughters through an attorney.

The paper reports that she told the conference that the threat of having details from their church-based marriage counselling exposed exacerbated the couple’s difficulties before the singer also defected.

Domingo, now an independent practitioner of the Scientology faith, said: “I hope Tom and Katie haven’t had marriage counselling because if they have, OSA will have those files.”

Domingo also told the conference that she believes the Church of Scientology ruins lives.

She added, “Forced disconnection is the destruction of families, it’s the destruction of years of friendship, the loss of children and the loss of parents.”

The Irish Times also reports that almost half of those attending the Dublin event, the first of its kind in Ireland, disguised themselves.

It says that many guests filing into the conference were filmed by two people outside the venue.

Former Scientologist Pete Griffiths, the event’s chief organiser, claimed it was a surveillance tactic by Scientology intelligence operatives.

He said that similar conferences had been scuppered in the past through the church’s interference.